Always room for improvement

I am very pleased to have discovered a comfortable and pretty, organic cotton bra through Waschbaer.de. I ordered this and a couple of other things, and was also pleased that the parcel was done up with string, rather than plastic tape. Brilliant, ‘cos I re-use the string to tie up plants in my garden!

I’m including a photo of the packaging though, because in spite of the wins, there are a couple of “losses” when it comes to reducing plastic waste. I can understand that underwear is considered a hygiene article, so that would explain the plastic bag. Plus there’s the tag on the bra which is fixed on with a piece of plastic, not included in my photo.

I also ordered a ceramic “cress hedgehog”, for growing cress on: I’m looking forward to watching the cress grow and to harvesting it – and eating it! It came wrapped in two cardboard boxes: one with branding on, which left the hedgehog’s nose exposed. And an outer box which you see in my packaging photo, where you can also see what look like strands of plastic in the tape that held it closed. This is a tiny amount of plastic, but I wonder if it is really necessary?

And then there’s all the leaflets and adverts from other companies. Plus the printed receipt, which zero wasters would want to avoid. My third product that I ordered was a large plastic bottle of shampoo. I’ve read about “no ‘poo” but I’m not prepared to try it! So that bottle is future plastic waste that I ordered.

On the whole, I really like Waschbaer: they have products that I like and they seem to want to do something ethical. Some things are just right, and some leave room for improvement – rather like me.